


Not Exactly a Storybook Ending

by elbatross



Series: The Marimo AU [4]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: (but in all the best ways), Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Manipulation, Exactly What It Says on the Tin, Gen, Honestly Charles What Are You Thinking, M/M, Marimo, they are marimo what else should i say
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-22
Updated: 2013-01-22
Packaged: 2017-11-26 11:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/650104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elbatross/pseuds/elbatross
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles gets Erik to do something he really never wanted to do, but they both know how weak Charles is to the needs of children.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Exactly a Storybook Ending

**Author's Note:**

> Remember when I said I was finished with this AU? Guess who's a big liar? There's extra stuff for this fic on [my blog](http://sharkweekhomes.tumblr.com/tagged/murderous_marimo_plots).

Science and commercialism loved and lusted for Charles Xavier after he presented his findings on his latest discovery. Japan wanted the most rights to them, because after all their species was pretty well honored there, but Charles couldn't justify giving copyright when all his little marimo had done were be themselves and in the case of one maim his the former dean of his school. No, Charles didn't have a good reason to trademark his particular marimo, but if he did a little bit of persuasion he could very well have one. All he needed was the right setting and good incentive to help him, and he was confident he could do it. So he ordered some Chinese from Erik's favorite place, baked his famed chocolate chip cookies, and squeezed into his tightest jeans before Erik returned home that evening. He was lounged on the couch with a glass of wine and wearing Erik's button up, sitting up when his boyfriend walked through the door.

"Welcome home, Erik. I ordered out tonight, I didn't think you'd want to cook tonight. It was your turn, but I thought that you'd be so worn out after your life drawing classes that you wouldn't even be thinking of what you were going to prepare." He watched Erik's eyes roam his exposed chest, the last few buttons of the shirt the only ones that he'd bothered to button. "And I baked, and got your favorite wine. I know it doesn't really go with Chinese, but I wanted to treat you tonight." Charles approached him with his glass in hand and his free arm around Erik's neck to draw him in and press them together from chest to hips. A wicked little grin touched the corners of his mouth. "I'm even thinking that maybe you'd like to take dessert in the bedroom. You've always been one for indulging in something decadent in bed, hm?"

"Charles, what is it this time?" Suspicion had won out over arousal this time, Charles noted, and he frowned and dropped the act. He sighed and pulled away, downing the rest of his wine before returning to the couch. "Not that this isn't really lovely, but it's not my birthday or any sort of anniversary or holiday, so something's up. You also haven't won or been nominated for any special science awards or it would have been in an email at school. Go ahead, spill." Erik hung up his jacket and bag, joining Charles on the couch.

"They still want rights to make toys and all of the marimo, but I don't feel right doing it. They're just little creatures, so they should make generic ones, but they want to market them as a family with all their special features." There was a sigh as Charles poured himself another glass of wine. "You know, Charlie with his cage and Erik with his teeth and all the others as their babies. With faces and voices. They want to make an anime, Erik! It's Japan, why haven't they done that with the rest of their natural treasure anyhow?" Charles scoffed and finished off another glass, Erik stopping him before he could have another.

"So give it to them, simple as that." He reached for his chopsticks and chicken lo mein, digging into his food. Somehow, this order seemed even better than usual. Charles had probably already put some sort of sauce in it to lure Erik into accepting his plans. Erik hated to admit that it was working, even if he knew something was coming. "Collect the royalties and put the money towards research or charity or something."

"But I don't want them to make an anime if they know literally nothing about their daily life. What if they make them all wrong? Maybe they make Pete dumb, or Anya outgoing, or Charles isn't sweet? Think about it, they could make Erik patient with humans and content to exist solely on photosynthesis when we all know that he likes the remains of Wolverine's kills if he doesn't finish them. And the others! They don't know about the other animals, Erik!" During his little outburst, Charles made his way into Erik's lap to straddle and grip his shirt, almost getting dumping noodles into his lap in the process. Erik set aside the wine glass that was in danger of spilling all over him and his food before pulling his partner into his embrace.

"So you want me to do something about it?" Fingers smoothed unruly brown hair that had probably been tousled before he came home for maximum appeal. Oh, Charles was good, especially in this very moment when he was a little tipsy and on the verge of crocodile tears.

Damn him.

"I _need_ you to do something about it. They deserve the attention. It could help save others like them that might be floating in lakes around the world. Erik, please?" He cast those watery blue eyes on him, eyelashes already wet and clumping together, and Erik was a goner. He silently cursed himself, then verbally, then swallowed his pride and cupped Charles's face to wipe a little tear away.

"What do you need?" His exasperation was met with a small kiss and a smile.

"Erik, what do you know about writing childrens' books?"

***

Writing books for children was far harder than Erik anticipated. To write books for them one had to even be interested in children in the first place, and Erik could pretty much admit that he hated children. They sniffled, and cried, and they couldn't appreciate a good art gallery without touching everything except the damned crayons they were actually supposed to touch. Naturally, Charles adored children and his marimo, and he wanted children to be able to adore them as much as he did, and since Erik loved Charles he had to indulge his love for children as well. It would have been better if Charles had asked about helping Erik love children a little more by proposing that they start a family together first, but he'd deal with what he had in the moment. He'd been lucky enough to get some advice about writing from one of the other teachers and a little help from Charles as to what he wanted in the book as far as content and illustration, but his biggest task was going to be collecting research. It left him face to face with the one creature in the world who probably hated him more than Shaw, and far more dangerous considering that it had teeth.

Charles was giddy at the prospect, and whenever Erik would snap at his Erik, he'd light up and poke at the tank with delight while cooing about how "absolutely lovely" he was. Really, he deserved more attention than a four inch ball of murder for all the work he was going to be putting in. Erik sat at his drafting table with his sketches and little blurbs of prose and worked, listening to Charles tease Erik. 

"I've gotten you a special bowl so you and your little husband can sit on the desk and watch Erik work. Won't that be fun?" There was an audible clink of metal on glass as Charles showed off the fishbowl. "Now don't give me that face, you little grump. You're even more precious when you do that. Oh, children are going to love having their own little versions of you." Another clink sounded. It seemed like neither Erik enjoyed the arrangement very much. Erik returned to his work, but not before glancing behind him to watch Charles play with the marimo for a while. It helped him to have Charles around to look at his drafts from time to time because he was honest and knew a lot more about the intended audience. Some of Erik's drawings could be a little scary, he said, so he was instructed on what to draw and what to leave out entirely. One such thing had been the Shaw incident, mostly to avoid lawsuits and because as badass as taking off a finger would be it probably wasn't entirely appropriate for a childrens' book.

His current page was shaping up to look like the scene behind him, mostly by accident, but Charles was vitally important to the story. Erik had decided to leave himself out of it and write the entire thing from the Monster's point of view instead, seeing as they were similar in name and attitude. That didn't mean there was an excuse to leave Charles out, however, but he did have to give him a name to keep him separate from Charles the Marimo. It was hard enough to have to think from the perspective of a ball of moss, and even harder to pick an appropriate moniker for his boyfriend. Right then, Charles set the bowl near him with Erik and Charles inside, one looking pleased as the other fumed.

"Inspiration, dear. I'll take the little ones to the lab with me for a while so they can play with the new brood of axolotl babies. Take care, get a lot done and email me the new pages when you're done." He was gone after a quick kiss and packing up the rest of the marimo, then Erik had the house to himself and the pets. The ping on the glass of the fishbowl beside him sounded ominous, and the second confirmed that yes, Erik was there and probably plotting to murder his namesake now that his partner had left them alone. He shot a glare at it, not keeping the stern look for long as Charles attempted a friendly float as a greeting. Even under the wires of his cage, he was still fairly soft and twice as cute as before, just like his Charles when he was rumpled and sleepy on the mornings after he stayed over and didn't want to get up.

"Soft...oh." Erik scribbled the thought down and smirked down at the paper. For once, Charles was probably right about the little guys being good inspiration. He set to work, finishing up his first draft of the book's script before starting on the illustrations. This time, both marimo seemed impressed with his work.

***

"Erik the Marimo Meets Soft Human? I didn't expect this to be so cute." He picked up the first copy of their new book, flipping through the pages with his feet in Erik's lap. Charles hummed and smiled, touching the little characters on the page until he came across a human draw peering into the aquarium. "Wait, did you put me in this?"

"Yes. I thought it would only be right, you're the one who gave them their fame and the Monster does seem to like you."

"Soft Human, hm? You realize that this means I'll have to go to every book reading with you, right? They'll want to see the real Soft Human with the marimo, and the author will need another voice to help him read the other characters, especially his little mate." Charles shifted to sit shoulder to shoulder with Erik. "The children will be very pleased with that." Erik smiled almost giddily until he realized just exactly what Charles had said, and then he frowned.

"Reading...to children. Charles, you know I can't, I can hardly-" Just as Erik started to protest, Charles slipped to the floor on his knees before him, spreading Erik's legs to sit between them with a grin rivaling the Cheshire Cat's. "-hardly do anything like that without a little encouragement," he amended. The man in front of him licked his lips and tugged down the zipper on Erik's jeans.

"Well, we'll just have to see what I can do about that, won't we?"

***

All the children gathered in front of the glass and for once sat still. Soft Human had something wtih colors on it and kept pointing at little green balls on the paper. Erik sulked.

"It looks nothing like me. It has EYES, Charles." He tried to nip at the glass, only encouraging Soft Human to point more. Pietro bounced excitedly.

"Papa, Dad, look! They made us but big like them!" He flailed wildly at a new object, something that was as big as Erik and much fuzzier. It even had little Pete's signature white streak, and there were others that matched the rest of them. Erik's didn't actually have dangerous jaws, which he found to be a travesty, but Charles's cage looked much softer than the real thing. He hoped that his mate didn't envy that too much.

"Yes, darling, we see. I hope they don't plan on putting the in the water, they don't look like they'd hold up very well. But they are nice tries, I'll give them that." Soft Human waved the fluffy masses at them to mimic the children when they danced, coaxing them to join in the action. Charles swayed with Erik, careful not to get too far from him so that he wouldn't float away. "And the children seem to like them. I wonder what they are."

"Trouble, I bet. Maybe it's another plot they have to replace us. I bet Scary Human came up with it." He snapped at the one that looked like him, puffing out to try to match it's size. "Whatever it is, it's nothing good." The picture was shown again, this time depicting Erik and Charles cuddling. "...well, maybe not that bad. If this is Scary Human's doing, I will admit that he doesn't fail miserably at capturing your beauty."

"So you don't mind that they're going to move us again? Because you know they will, I've seen them packing their travelers and setting up ours too. It'll be another adventure, just like the one we had with Soft Human and with a lot of humans watching us. What if there are more of those tiny humans again, the cute ones who like to pet and shape us?" Charles practically vibrated at the very idea, and Erik could only flatten. If he hated Scary Human, he liked the tiny humans just a little better, but he still didn't like them. This trip would be torture, and of course the rest of his family would love it. At least Scary Human looked to be just as miserable about it as he was.

"As long as you're by my side, I guess. Surely it couldn't be any worse than tiny humans and Scary Human." They huddled closer, and Charles kept completely quiet about seeing the little tray that Soft Human kept around for demo washing go into this traveler. Just one little secret wouldn't hurt Erik too badly. He couldn't assure that human's wouldn't be harmed.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm waiting to see how many people catch on to how many references to other fics/scenes/art I end up putting into this story, but one specific part is a direct reference to a work that has come up again and again while I write this. It's the second time I've used this artist's work as inspiration for my writing, but I really can't help it. Charles teasing Erik comes from [this work](http://palalife.tumblr.com/post/19757265512/marimo-erik-due-to-xmrb-i-was-talking-to-marimo) by [palalife](http://archiveofourown.org/users/palalife).


End file.
